Building material



March 3l, 1936. R. G. QulNN 2,035,921

BUILDING MATERIAL original Filed May s, 193s ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 31, 1936 PATENT OFFICE BUILDING MATERIAL Robert G. Quinn, Glens Falls, N. Y., assignor to Intematonal Paper Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application `May 3, 1933, Serial No. 669,105. Divided and this application March 6, 1934, Serial No. 714,231

5 Claims.

My present invention relates to building products capable of withstanding exposure to the elements and forming a waterproof surface such that these products may be employed for roofing, siding and similar purposes. This invention is a divisional application of my co-pending application Ser. No. 669,105, filed May 3, 1933, for Building material and method of making the same.

More particularly my invention is concerned with a new and improved process for the manufacture of a novel composition building product which may be produced in different forms and shapes to be used as roofing, siding and the like.

An object of my present invention is to provide an improved composition shingle having the essential characteristics of the usual wood shingle, as for example, a thick butt and tapered sides, but which in addition possesses waterproofing and heat insulating properties.

Another object of my present invention is to provide a new and improved method for the manufacture of building products such as roofing, siding and the like, formed from bark or ground wood and provided with a coating of a suitable waterproof-lng material.

These and other objects of my invention will become more apparent as the following detailed description of the invention proceeds. It is to be understood that the description is to be taken as illustrative only and is not limiting in scope. In the drawing Fig. 1 is a diagram or flow sheet showing the various steps and their sequence in the production of my improved shingle.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a sheet of pulp as it leaves a platen type press.

- Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a before coating; and

Fig. 4 is a cross section of a finished shingle.

The diagram of Fig. 1 is largely self-explanatory as to the kind and sequence of operative steps. The following description, therefore, willbe largely without specific reference to this figure. The

shingle strip drawing is intended to supply a visual summary of the description.

According to my present invention I make use of a bark and the bast fibres adjacent to the bark. The shorter, Dulverizable material in bark is not of a fibrous character, but has a cellular structure similar to cork. Moreover, the bast bres have a very low resin content and the bark itself is impervious to resin. In the grinding or rolling action which will be described in `detail as the description proceeds, the outer bark is wrapped around the longer bast bres. When the pulp is treated with bituminous material such as asphalt, there will be a direct contact between the bast fibres and the bituminous material due to a uxing action which occurs during the drying of the material.

The bark is i'lrst mixed with water and passed through a sledge or hammermill. This reduces the bark to a pulpy or slimy mass. The outer bark is more easily disintegrated and so is in finer, smaller size than the inner bast fibres. Since in the manufacture of insulating material it is desirable to provide a coarse fibre to produce the main formation and a finer fibre to act as a illler, the pulp, following the action of the hammennill is subjected to a second comminuting action in a stone disc mill ordinarily made up of a revolving stone and a stationary one. As indicated in Fig. l, part of the pulp is led into a coarse stone grinder and part into a fine stone grinder. There is no difference in the two disc mills except for the manner in which the grinding stones are set. Thus in the coarse stone grinder considerable clearance is allowed between the grinding stones, whereas in the I-lne stone grinder the clearance between the stones is diminished. The pulp is fed between the' faces of these stones at right angles to the axis of rotation and parallel to the faces themselves. 'Ihis further reduces the size of the particles and in addition produces a rolling action on the long fibres which causes the ne outer bark fibres to be wrapped around the longer bast fibres. The resultant pulp is essentially made up, therefore, of bast bres enclosed by particles of outer bark. The outer bark in itself will not absorb resin, but when broken up into a mass of ne particles the mass has a certain absorbency due to capillarity. 'I'his eiTect is sumcient to absorb any resin which may be drawn out of the inner bast fibres. .The pulp just described is to be coated with asphalt or other similar waterproofing material. Many authorities believe that resin has an adverse effect upon the durability of asphalt, and if such be the case, the

pulp of this invention reduces such eect to aan atomized condition by means of a high pressure steam jet. The particles of asphalt are thus in a reduced condition bordering upon the colloidal. The bark fibres moving at high velocities are coated with a thin film of asphalt' at the surface, the pressure at the spray nozzle creating a velocity sufficient to drive the molten asphalt particles through the water film surrounding the libres and the asphalt being sumciently hot to retain its adhesive. qualities after passing through the water lm. The pulp resulting from this process consists essentially of bast fibres encompassed by a lm of outer bark, this film being in turn coated with asphalt.

The addition of small percentages of asphalt soluble wetting agents will improve this operation by preventing successive unatomized particle flotation. 'I'his effect is produced'by the lowering of the interfacial surface tension between 'the asphalt and water. The amount of wetting :agent used is dependent upon its effectiveness, together with the type of asphalt employed. I have found, however, that from .5 to 1.5,of the asphalt weight is suicient. Among the wetting agents which may be used are neomerpin, nekal, or other sulphonated derivatives in the powder form.` For certain purposes a wetting agent having a high toxicity to bacteria 'may be employed.

If desired, colloidal bitumen in an emulsifled state may be added to the agitator without the use of a spray. If such procedure is to be followed the agitator is previously provided with two im-` pellers so that the fibres fed into the top of the tank with the colloidal bitumen are mixed thoroughly with the bitumen before passing into the field of the lower agitator where coagulents and antitacks such as alum and talc are added. Any form of bitumen maybe used without departing from the spirit of my invention. The bitumen is added to the extent of 5% of the bone dry bark weight and talc should be added to an extent suilcient to prevent the sticking of the mass on the forming machine.

The pulp after it comes from the mixer is fed to a suitable forming machine, a preferred form of whichv is an hydraulic platen press, although any desired type of forming machine may be used. Either or both platens of the press may be apertured or foraminated to permit the withdrawal of moisture by suctionas the pulp is pressed. The platen surface, in the manufacture of shingles, is preferably serrated to produce the panel illustrated in Fig. 2.v The pulp is admitted between the platens and pressure is applied while at the same time the foraminated platens are subjected to a vacuum, thereby drawing the expressed moisture out of the pulp.

The moulded sheet resulting from this operation is shown in Fig. 2 and consists of a series of tapering sections I0, each of which approximates in cross section a finished shingle. Each inclined portion has a length equal to the width of the sheet and each is of a width equal to the length of the ultimate shingle desired. It is not intended to limit vthis invention to the precise shingles.

ing surface in a plastic state, it

form shown since by changing 'the form' of the platen a wide variety of sheets may be produced without departing from the spirit of this invention. Thus the shingles may also be formed individually on a press or cylinder. The face of the cylinder would be blocked off so that pick-up would only take place on the drainage areas. which areas would correspond in indentation on the cylinder surface with the shape shingle desired. As hereinbefore stated, any desirable form of press may be used.

The serrated sheet, however it may be formed, is passed through any suitable multiple slitter which severs each of the aforementioned inclined portions from the sheet, thus producing an extremely long individual shingle. The shingles are then dried -in any suitable hot dryer maintaining a sufliciently high temperature to flux the asphalt coating of the individual fibres.

On leaving the dryer the comparatively long shingles" may be cut into sizes approximating that of the ordinary wood shingle or the shingle may be slotted at various points along its length as at il, Fig. 3, so that when applied in the usual manner to the roof they will simulate individual In this latter case there remains a continuous portion I2 holding 'the slotted portions together and this continuous portion is not exposed to the weather.

After being cut to their desired final proportions the shingles are dipped by being conveyed through an asphalt bath which results in coating them. The asphalt should have a melting point of about 125 Fahrenheit and should be maintained at a temperature such that penetration will be limited to not more than 11; of an inch into the pulp base. Alternatively the shingles may be dipped in any suitable asphalt emulsion. 'Ihis latter alternative is indicated in Fig. 1.

The shingles are then given a second coating with an asphalt having ahigher melting point, preferably an oxidized or blown grade. This second coating is preferably applied only to the surfaces exposed to the weather and to a small portion of the bottom of the shingle adjacent the exposed edges. The coating may contain asbestos or other brous materials which serve to stop the absorption of asphalt into the shinglebody.

Before applying the second coating it. may be desirable to dust the fibrous material -on the surface of the first asphalt coating, and if necessary the brous material may be rolled into the rst coat. If this is done no iibrous material need be added to the higherl melting asphalt before its application to the shingle. In either case the fibrous material adds strength, imparts resistance to cold ow in the thick second coating, and improves the adhesion between the layers of asphalt.

After the application of the second asphalt coating a layer of pulverized slate or other mineral is applied in granular form to the weatherand edges of the.shingle.' Due to the diiiiculty of applying these granules to the edges of the shingle while the asphalt is still is preferred to pre-heat the mineral granules and blow them on the asphalt surface after the surface is hard. The process is completed by dusting the asphalt areas not covered by the slate or mineral granules with mica or talc or any `suitable anti-tack material.

The finished shingle will now be described with reference to Fig. 4. The main body I0 of the shingle vis composedof bark fibre in which the iinely-pulverized outer bark is wrapped about the long bast fibres and the wrapped fibres are individually coated with asphalt. This coating is fiuxed during the drying oi' the pressed pulp. A coating I3 of asphalt or an emulsion of asphalt is applied over the entire shingle body and penetrates slightly into the body (as indicated at I4) but such penetration should not exceed of an inch. A second coating I5 of asphalt of a higher melting point than that oi' the rst coating is applied. 'This coating covers only that portion of thel upper surface of the shingle which is exposed to the weather. It also covers the exposed edge portions andl a small portion I6 of the bottom of the shingle adjacent the edges. A layer of pulverized slate I1 is then applied over the second asphalt coating I5 but this is confined to the upper surface and exposed edges. It is to be understood, however, that the number of coats of asphalt applied may be varied to meet` existing conditions. Thus, several thin coats of various kinds of asphalt may be given to the shingle.

From the above description it will be readily appreciated that I have provided a new and im proved method of forming a shingle which because of the ease with which it may be treated to render it waterproof affords a superior shingle than shingles heretofore known. Moreover it 'is to be understood that my present invention is not limited to the formation of a shingle but embraces the formation oi' siding or other building construction. In the latter form it may be desired to omit the coating steps and provide siding which may thereafter be painted as is now the case when ordinary clapboard siding is employed.

I claim:

1. A building material comprising a brous body covered with bituminous waterproofing material, said body being composed of bark coated bast fibres individually coated with bitumen.

2. A building material comprising a fibrous body covered with bituminous waterproofing material in which is imbedded granular mineral particles, said body being composed of bark coated bast fibres individually coated with bitumen.

3. A shingle comprising a pressed pulp base, the pulp including long bark bres; short bark coated bast ibres wrapped around the long bark bres and an asphalt coating over the short bark bres.

4. A shingle as set forth in claim 3 in which the pressed pulp body is coated with asphalt of a low melting point.

5. A shingle set forth in claim 3 in which the pressed pulp body is coated with asphalt of a low melting point and which has applied thereto a second coating of asphalt of a higher melting Point. v

ROBERT G. QUINN'.' 

